Review – Anthropoid

Unlike the propaganda version made during the war, this story of the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich takes a grimly realistic approach to the subject. Thus it does a solid job of portraying the human cost of the plot, not only to the men who carried it out but also to the Czechs who were tortured and murdered in the wake of the butcher’s death. Cheerful viewing this isn’t, but it’s a good piece of history-based filmmaking. Worth seeing

Review – Brooklyn 45

The combination of the single room setting and dreadful dialogue make this production reek of a sophomore-level playwriting assignment. I was intrigued by the notion of a seance dredging up supernatural fallout from war crimes, but the premise is swiftly buried under a mountain of ill-conceived character motivations and a relentless stream of bickering. The inattention to detail is also nettlesome. For example, one of the characters committed an atrocity in Berlin during the war, but the US Army didn’t enter that city until after the war in Europe ended. The incident could easily have been located somewhere else in Germany, which showcases the sloppy approach to storytelling here. And though the cast is populated with some semi-familiar faces, almost all the actors are too old to have recently done military service. Maybe if it had been Brooklyn 65 instead? See if desperate

Review – Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Why do D&D movies always have to be silly? Though I admit it’s been many a year since I’ve played, I remember game sessions as being more Lord of the Rings and less Monty Python. They seemed to be going out of their way to populate the story with the more absurd elements from the source material, including an owl bear and a gelatinous cube. The cast has talent (Hugh Grant notwithstanding), and they do what they can to work around a mediocre script and special effects that might have been impressive ten years ago. Mildly amusing

Review – Devotion

Planes. Male bonding. Planes. Anti-racist message. Planes. What more could you want from the story of Jesse Brown, Navy pilot and Korean War hero? I admit I tended to lose interest during the macho posturing stuff. But the action sequences were good, and the story of a Black aviator struggling to succeed in the US military sadly remains relevant. Mildly amusing

Review – Becoming Evil: Serial Killers of the Old West

This title caught my attention based on the implication that the documentary would focus on the lesser-known cases of 19th century American serial killers rather than the usual crew of famous outlaws. Imagine my disappointment when I found that the producers defined “serial killer” so loosely that it included the hackneyed cast of robbers and thugs who didn’t scruple at killing their victims. Even the subjects who killed people on impulse rather than for financial gain seemed to have anger management issues rather than a pathological compulsion to commit murder. So what we end up with is yet another tedious rehash of the careers of Billy the Kid, Jesse James and other all-too-familiar Western legends. To make matters worse, several of the experts interviewed for the documentary are spectacularly terrible storytellers. Throughout most of this movie I found myself pitying the hapless tourists who wander into the wrong roadside attraction and lose precious hours of their vacation time listening to these people rattle on. See if desperate

Review – Scream 6

Ghostface Takes Manhattan. At least this isn’t quite as stupid as its counterpart from the Friday the 13th franchise. As with previous entries in the set, most of the entertainment value in this production comes from gory death and preposterous plot twists. Again fans should find themselves well served. Mildly amusing

Review – Scream (2022)

I was curious to see how the franchise that brought meta horror to the big screen would fare in an age where pretty much everything is meta. Though obviously this isn’t innovative anymore, it at least remains entertaining. Fans of the series should enjoy the next generation returning to familiar territory, as well as some cast members from the original set coming back for another go-around. Mildly amusing